Judian Nicholson: After the journey, the Rewiring

SHE’S a financial professional who is very passionate about community development, a passion which would lead her to serve the nation’s youth as a youth parliamentarian. Serving as the financial controller for the county of Middlesex, and elected junior minister of finance for her cohort, Judian Nicholson says she enjoys empowering young people to thrive to be their best selves.

Self-described as “a beacon of hope” in her community, this Portmore success story spearheaded a digital literacy programme in partnership with Google, Microsoft, Flow Foundation and the Caribbean School of Data, that saw 63 youths across Jamaica being guided in digital literacy. She is now working on a financial literacy project as she continues to be a changemaker in her generation.

“Thus far, my greatest contribution to the world would be my visionary abilities in leading my teams into different projects,” she told All Woman. “One was the digital literacy project; another is the financial literacy project. Being the head of fund-raising within my community and directing my teams on different sales strategies that leads to year-over-year revenue generation helps me to accept my gift of seeing the vision, writing it down, and executing it in the most efficient manner.”

Now a new author of 31 Days of Rewiring, Nicholson said her first book is an empowerment journal designed to help individuals change the way they think, and ultimately change their life.

“I am most proud of the launching of the book — this empowerment journal was my experience documented in pages alongside the methodologies I employed to change my negative behaviours,” she explained.

“I am proud of the mess I allowed God to take me out of. The constant complaining about everything. Rewiring old mindsets is no easy thing to do; it takes time and dedication. I am very proud of myself for working on the poor (poverty) mindset, and allowing God to usher me into a new season with a new pattern of thinking and especially having the guts to document the process.”

The book empowers the reader with information and scientifically proven methodologies to improve their life through a tri-fold approach of positive self-talk through guided affirmations, attitude of gratitude, and positive journalling.

The Ardenne High and University of the West Indies alumna says for her, success is the art of designing your destiny with goals and objectives and making the decision to fulfil them in your own time.

She said she chose this specific niche in authorship, “having first-hand experience of how a negative mindset can affect one’s life and being adamant that I must change, and I will change, was the catalyst for the reaction of bringing change through the pages of a book“.

”I would always write and scribble random revelatory thoughts in my journal,“ Nicholson shared. ”I also love knowledge and have seen how reading different books helped me to change into a better human being. With the vision of my life to be an agent of change, I decided to go about the business of imparting knowledge on the pages of books.“

Nicholson is currently pursuing her CFA (chartered financial analyst) level one, and says her favourite days are the ones that gets her to drive to another side of the island and smash a pension presentation.

For her, resilience comes from struggle — ”Growing up in poverty has its merits, it is the crucible that gives birth to this child of perseverance called resilience…“

She has plans for more writing, and says the feedback to her book so far has been very positive.

”Many people have thanked me, especially about the simplicity of the methodology, and also how the book has positively impacted them,“ she said.

And standing on His promise, Nicholson said God still triumphs as her highest and best motivator. ”When I pray, I get the best insights and direction for my life. Had it not been for seasons of prayer, I wouldn’t be where I am today,“ she said.

For young women on the rise, this jazz lover suggests that there is no need to be like a man, and instead, ”lead like a lady — soft, feminine and strong in your own way“.

”If you are young and sit at the table with people who are older, [know that] it’s OK, we can do this,“ she advised. ”The baton must be passed on to someone in the next generation and girl, that’s you!“

When she’s not working, Nicholson reminisces on the time in her life when she used to sing, and wanted to be ‘Judi Jahz’, a reggae jazz artist. She also loves the beach, and will often go and stare at the sea and watch the pelicans and other birds fly by.

She also finds comfort in having been raised under the direction of Jacqueline and Rudolph Nicholson, who created servant leaders in her and her two sisters.

“And my inner circle girlies, we call our selves the God’s Grace Girlies, are a part of my tower of strength and fortitude. They are my community of Godly women who help me to grow spiritually and experience the best of what life has to offer; it’s almost like a defence for me and so I value them so much,“ she said.

”They keep me grounded especially when work gets crazy, and they help me to stay rooted in the word of God. Having a circle of powerful women friends who I get to share life with, travel and cry on, helps me to be balanced and to show up my best self.“